FNC Told To Echo GOP Talking Point

Leaked Fox News Memo

This is going to add some fairly serious grist to the mill for the people that think Fox News is essentially the political arm of the GOP.

According to Glynnis MacNicol, businessinsider.com,  during the height of the health care debate a Fox News vice president Bill Sammon sent a memo to staff asking them to refer to the 'public option' as the 'government option.'  Media Matters, in a welcome departure from the usual nitpicking, obtained the email which directed the new division to:

Please use the term ‘government-run health insurance,’ or, when brevity is a concern, ‘government option,’ whenever possible.”

This memo came shortly after Republican pollster Frank Luntz advised Sean Hannity thusly:

“If you call it a public option, the American people are split,” he explained. “If you call it the government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it.”

Read more here.